Last night, when Alberta Premier Rachel Notley announced her plans to temporarily cut oil production in the province, she missed a golden opportunity.1 Instead of rationalizing this decision as a convoluted way to increase demand for Alberta oil in the long term, I wish Premier Notley could have told Albertans, and people all across Canada, the truth. She could have said that climate change is real and that the global market for tar sands oil is shrinking and, because of that, she would phase out fossil fuels, guarantee jobs for workers and make massive shifts to renewables. But, she didn’t, and that’s why we have to.

Not only did Notley’s announcement yesterday end with an impassioned statement of support for oil by rail and the TransMountain pipeline -- she didn’t offer any sort of a plan to protect workers impacted by inevitable job loss. That was disappointing to say the least. We know that by pushing fossil fuel expansion, politicians like Notley and Trudeau are failing to act on climate change and implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. But it’s also increasingly clear to me that they are falling short when it comes to protecting workers and their families. Notley isn’t the only one. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is stumbling in his attempts to support thousands of workers losing their jobs after General Motors’ recent decision to shut down its plant in Oshawa.2 And by ignoring postal workers’ demands for safety, gender equity and fair compensation, Justin Trudeau has demonstrated that his loyalties don’t lie with the working class either.3

I’ll be honest. When I published an article in the National Observer talking about the Good Work Guarantee last week, I didn’t expect it to be so timely.4 This idea truly could not have come at a better time.

A Good Work Guarantee simply makes sense. It’s a guaranteed job for any workers impacted by the crucial transition to 100% renewables. It’s a guaranteed place at the table for Indigenous communities in determining how Canada tackles climate change at scale. And, maybe most important to me, it’s a liveable future for my sons because it does what the science is telling us is absolutely necessary and stops fossil fuel expansion.